Apple CEO Tim Cook to Forgo $75 Million in Dividends

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Apple CEO Tim Cook is offering a $2.65 per share stock dividend to all company employees while forgoing his own shares — a move that will likely cost him $75 million, according to the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“At Mr. Cook’s request, none of his restricted stock units will participate in dividend equivalents,” says the company’s 8-K form filed with the SEC.

Cook was offered 1 million shares back in January for serving as interim CEO after his predecessor, the late Steve Jobs, was forced by illness to hand over control of the company.

Apple announced in March a plan to spend $45 billion on dividends and share repurchasing. It was the first time that Apple offered a dividend. Jobs famously refused to offer them when he was CEO.

Cook assumed the role of Apple CEO in August 2011 after Jobs' death in October.

Apple’s stock passed $600 a share in April and many analysts expect the stock to go even higher despite a recent decline. Today the price hovered above $560 per share.

The company will likely incur increased costs due to a plan increase spending at the Chinese manufacturing company Foxconn. The Fair Labor Association reported, with Apple’s cooperation, that workers there, assembling iPhones, iPads and other consumer electronics, were often underpaid and made to work excessive overtime.